Days had gone by, with Dany sitting in the lab after helping Owen with some of the chores at the Raptor Octagon. She sat in a chair, staring at the incubator that held the more colorful eggs. But nothing seemed to be happening. There wasn't a single twitch of an egg about to hatch. Nothing. The metal clawed arm would pick each egg up and rotate it regularly. Dany had tried adjusting the temperature as hot as it would go, but to no avail.
She sat sideways curled up in the office chair, a leg draped over the side when a hand touching her shoulder startled her back to the present. She snapped her head up to see Owen with two paper cups of coffee as he handed her one.
"Any luck?" He asked as she took with a thin smile of thanks.
"Nothing." She said with a defeated sigh, turning her head back to the incubator as Owen pulled up a chair. She couldn't bring herself to look at the sympathetic I told you look she knew was on his face.
Owen sighed, sitting next to her. "There's still a couple days, but—"
"Don't say it," Dany rolled her eyes but she was too tired to really give much more of a protest, her resolve dwindling away gradually.
"—But, you may have to just come to the conclusion that nothing might hatch out of the eggs. I know it's disappointing, it sucks but what are the odds of those being dragon eggs? It was a long shot to begin with. I know you've spent hours in here and a ton of hope that they might be viable but the odds have kinda been against you since day one." Owen said, his tone was gentle but still trying to let her down easy.
"There has to be, though. You felt how warm they were. Something has to be in those eggs." Dany said.
Owen smirked lightly. "What're you going to do if emus or something hatch out of those eggs?"
Dany snorted. "I have that thing turned up so high that if it isn't a dragon, nothing is hatching out of those eggs." She admitted, taking a sip of her coffee.
Frowning curiously, Owen pushed himself up out the chair to look at the temperature. "Jesus, Dany. You're gonna cook whatever's in those at that temp."
"Not a dragon," Dany said, her eyes never leaving the incubator as she set her coffee down to wring her long, silver blonde hair back in a messy bun. "Fire can't kill a dragon."
Unfortunately, within the next couple of days concluding the week, nothing had hatched out of the eggs. Dr. Wu was empathetic, but firmly told her. They couldn't sacrifice the incubator any longer.
"They're basically stone at this point," He said. "Just use them as a decoration.
But Dany couldn't give up yet. She thanked Dr. Wu for his time, took the eggs, but she had another idea. And she knew Owen wasn't going to like it.
"You've officially lost it." Owen muttered, watching in disbelief back at his trailer by Raptor Octagon as Dany set each egg carefully in the stone fire pit outside. A couple chais lounges surrounded the pit and as the sun started to go down, Dany prepared to light it.
"What if the incubators weren't hot enough?" She countered, crouched down as she set wood and other kindling around the eggs before sticking the lighter in to light the nearest piece of piece. "They're dragons. I told you, fire can't kill a dragon."
"They might be nothing, and burning those could just result in really ugly ovals if this doesn't work." Owen said, his hands on his hips as he watched the fires start lapping at the night air as they rose up and gradually engulfed all three eggs. It was at that moment, Owen could have sworn he saw one twitch. But he couldn't be sure. But something in him suddenly gave him more faith in her plight.
He turned and went inside. Dany turned her head, frowning.
"Where're you going?"
He came back out with a couple sleeping bags and blankets, tossing one of each to Dany. "I know you're not going to leave them, and you're not sleeping out here alone." He said, getting set up on a chais next to hers as she sat down on one.
"You really don't have to," She protested.
Owen had already set up his sleeping bag. "I'm not arguing with you." He said firmly. But she saw the slightest twitch of a grin tug at the corner of his lips. With a grin, Dany set up her own, and that was where they camped out. Nothing could be heard except for the nightly jungle activity, and the occasional padding of feet and calls of the raptors not two hundred feet from where they lay.
The next morning, Owen woke up to something he never thought in a million years he'd see. Dany was crouched by the dying remnants of a fire, the blanket wrapped around her, and three small winged creatures the size of small, scrawny chickens now all around her. One was in her arms, another perched on her shoulder, and one in front of her that she was reaching out to.
Owen slowly threw his own blanket back, his mouth agape. The one on Dany's shoulder was emerald green and gold, the one in the fire pit a copper and cream color, while the one in her arms was jet black black and deep crimson red. All three heads shot up to look up at him, eyes big and shining, chittering and squawking in little high pitched sounds.
"Holy shit on a Goddamn shingle…" Owen breathed. Baby dragons. Three of them. He couldn't believe what he was looking at.
Dany turned and looked at him, a huge smile on her face. Unshed tears shone in her lilac eyes.
"What did I tell you?" She gave a choked laugh, emotional by the whole experience. The little black dragon was still curled up in her arms, with two back legs and a thin membrane of wings on its forearms. It stared up at Owen as though all three were seeing the world for the first time, tendrils of smoke curling up into the air from its nostrils.
Owen couldn't help but laugh, looking to the little emerald green dragon on Dany's shoulder. "Let me see you for a second, buddy—"
When he reached to try to coax the little dragon onto his hands, tiny claws hooked into the fabric of Dany's shirt and it squawked its protest loudly. Owen relented immediately. "Okay—okay, I won't take you from your mama."
Dany wiped her eyes, her free hand gently stroking the little copper dragon. "It literally happened about an hour ago. I heard rustling, went to the fire just as it was dying and they started hatching."
"Wu is going to shit sideways," Owen said, shaking his head. He looked at Dany. "You brought dragons into the world, D. Literal, real dragons. And they've imprinted on you. You are mom to them."
Dany carefully shrugged her shoulder, wincing as little claws dug into her skin, lifting a hand to gently nudge the green one forward toward Owen. "Here—you can have a look at him. All three are males."
Owen carefully cupped his hands to form a safe platform for the little green one. It had to be no more than four pounds, the green dragon's little forearms gripping for purchase on Owen's hands. His wings were no more than papery membranes, which he extended and flapped for balance before reluctantly settling into Owen's hands.
"They're actually here," Dany breathed. "I never thought in my life I would see a dragon other than stories, but here they are."
"They're going to get big in no time, too," Owen said, gently brushing a finger along the green dragon's neck. At this age they were all neck, tail and wing. They were the most extraordinary creatures, but it wasn't like the Indominus. It was as though all three knew that they belonged.
"We'll have to keep them up here for now. Do not let Wu try to talk you into keeping them in the hatchery," Owen told her. "These are your dragons, Dany. The eggs were given to you, InGen has no claim over them. Know your rights, if you want to display them in the park it could be amazing but know that these guys belong to you."
Dany nodded, her mind whirling. The black dragon in her arms curled up against her, but it still blinked at Owen with crimson eyes. There was a fire in those eyes, and a fierce intelligence.
You're going to be trouble. Owen thought. I can tell already.
"Let's try to get them fed. We have no idea what dragons actually like, so that's going to be a feat in itself." Owen said, moving his hands so the green dragon could scrabble back onto Dany's shoulder before standing. "I'll go to the fridge and see what we have."